BUT CAN THEY COLLECT?: Families awarded $107 million for Flight 742 crash

Despite their Zoom event being interrupted by hackers channelling porn and heavy metal music, lawyers for the families of six Canadian victims of a passenger jet that was shot down by the Iranian military two years ago vowed to collect $107 million in damages awarded by an Ontario court from Iran.

Calling the damages decision in favour of the victims of Flight 742 “unprecedented in Canadian law,” lawyer Mark Arnold warned, “If anybody from the Islamic Republic of Iran is on this call, if the Supreme Leader is on this call, we’re coming after your assets, gentlemen.”

The intentions were stated at a virtual news conference held by lawyers and family members of victims on Tuesday, which was hijacked by hackers for nearly three minutes before the lawyers were forced to end the call.

The event had followed the court award, which was made public Monday, founded upon a previous ruling that the missile strikes amounted to an intentional act of terrorism, paving the way for relatives of those killed to seek compensation from Iran.

In his decision, Ontario Superior Court Justice Edward Belobaba found on a balance of probabilities that the missiles that shot down the Ukraine International Airlines flight were fired deliberately at a time when there was no armed conflict in the area. As a result, he found it constituted an act of terrorism that would invalidate Iran’s immunity against civil litigation.

While the State Immunity Act protects foreign states from legal claims, the Justice for Victims of Terrorism Act provides an exception in cases where the losses are caused by terrorist activity.

More than 100 of the 176 people killed in the plane crash on Jan. 8, 2020, had ties to Canada, including 55 Canadian citizens and 30 permanent residents.

Belobaba awarded $7 million in compensatory damages and $100 million in punitive damages, plus interest, to the family members who went to court.

But while lawyers would not divulge how the legal team planned to collect money from the Iranian government, they said they knew where Iran’s Canadian and international assets could be found.